1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a self-contained system for utilizing environmentally available radiant energy, specifically infra-red energy, to provide a new source of electrical energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many proposals have been made in the prior art for the conversion of environmentally available radiant energy directly into electrical energy. Specifically, it has been proposed to use the thermoelectric, piezoelectric, and photovoltaic effects for this purpose. Typical U.S. patents showing such generators are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,146 granted Sept. 4, 1973, 3,198,969 granted Aug. 3, 1965, and 3,296,469 granted Jan. 3, 1967. While the underlying principles of such generators have been known for many years, attempts at the utilization of these principles have been beset with problems that have impeded the development of such generators as practical sources of electrical power.
Other proposals for the conversion of infra-red energy into electrical energy have utilized the principle of the decrease in magnetism of bodies, particularly iron and certain other metals, alloys and their compositions as their temperature is increased. Generators embodying this principle are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 476,093, granted June 14, 1892 and 2,016,100 granted Oct. 1, 1935. Here, again, notwithstanding the apparent potential of such generators, the art has been unable to develop the technology as a practical electrical energy source. Among the problems involved with such generators is the complex and consequently expensive magnetic field structure that is required.
a phenomenon that has long been known as providing an output of kinetic energy from an input of radiant energy is the radiometer. The radiometer is an instrument that was devised by Sir William Crookes to measure the intensity of incident radiation. It operates on the principle that a body delicately suspended in a vacuum is apparently repelled by radiation. The instrument, in a commonly known form, includes a system of four spaced light-weight vanes of poor heat conductivity which are blackened on one side, the other side being bright, and so suspended in a highly exhausted bulb that they are free to rotate about a common vertical axis with the black surfaces all facing in the same direction. Incident radiation from the sun or an adjacent warm body is absorbed and emitted by the black surfaces of the vanes more than the bright surfaces, and as a result, gas molecules near the black surfaces are energized and press more on the black than the bright surfaces causing the vanes to rotate about their axis. The more intense the incident radiation, the more rapid is the rate of rotation. Actually, an outside source of lower temperature such as ice, dry ice, evaporating ether, or other cold material will draw radiant energy from the molecules causing them to move in the direction of the cold material, also driving the vanes. The container enclosing the vanes is necessary to maintain the high vacuum and to provide a barrier to rebound activated molecules back to the vanes, driving them further.
The radiometer is described in a series of papers that were published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (1873-1881). Reference is made particularly to Paragraphs 145-148. The publication entitled "`RADIANT MATTER`, A Resume of the Principal Lectures and Papers by Prof. William Crookes on the Fourth State of Matter", published by James W. Queen & Co., No. 924 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia Pennsylvania also is concerned with the phenomenon.
In another form of radiation responsive instrument which he called the otheoscope and that is described also in the aforementioned Philosophical Transactions, particularly in Paragraphs 450-454, Crookes provided a larger radiant energy absorbing and emitting surface consisting of a large stationary plate of good heat conductivity having a blackened surface. Thus, in the otheoscope the surface that generates the molecular disturbance is not the one that rotates. The blackened surface of the plate, however, is placed close to the movable vanes. Because of the larger surface area and closer proximity, the blackened stationary plate activates a greater number of molecules and directs them more accurately to the movable vanes resulting in a greater speed or rotation than is achievable by the radiometer with the same intensity of incident radiation. Another advantage of the otheoscope is that an enclosure is not necessary when a vacuum such as outer space is already present. The small space between the stationary blackened surface and movable vanes provide a rebounding space within which molecular rebound can occur and rebound off a container wall is not necessary to provide the moving force of the vanes. Another form of the otheoscope involved a stationary blackened disc above which light-weight blades radiating from a common center were positioned giving the appearance of a turbine.
Although the inventions of the radiometer and the otheoscope were made more than a hundred years ago, the only use proposed heretofore for the instruments and their inherent property of converting radiant energy into kinetic energy has been the measurement of the intensity of radiation falling upon them. That this available kinetic energy might be utilized to provide a useful electrical energy source has gone unnoticed. This notwithstanding the need for new energy sources and the intensive search for such new energy sources that has long been underway. Significant in this connection is the highly developed technology that has been available for the effective utilization of such kinetic energy, specifically the production of an output of electrical energy by the mechanical relative rotative motion of the magnetic field and the electrical conductors of the dynamoelectric machine.